He Never Knew

~ A Week Later ~

Ugh. Monday.

I haven't talked to or seen Zak in a few days. You might think that weird, being that we live in the same house and all. But we've both learned how to avoid each other.

Each day that passed seemed to be harder and harder on Zak. I saw him at lunch only one day this whole week. Some of the boys on his team walked up to him and poured their food on his head. The cafeteria went silent and then broke out in laughter. Zak didn't go to school the next day. Or the day after that.

I heard him talking with mom. "Mom, can I stay home today? I really don't feel good."

"Yeah, Zak, you can stay home today. But you gotta go tomorrow." Only, he didn't.

Zak became somewhat of an outcast. His coach would bench him during games, not letting him play anymore. When he was on the court, he would just stand there and mope around. His teammates didn't talk to him and neither did his friends.

It's amazing how much people don't like the people who are different. No one even treated me this badly. Most everyone didn't like me from the start so when I came out, it gave them all a reason to hate me. But everyone was friends with Zak. It was strange to see the way they were treating him, since they had once been friends with him.

At the moment, I was sitting alone in my room doing homework. In Zak's room, I could hear Sleeping With Sirens playing. Every once in a while, I would hear a sob and my heart would break. Although Zak and I are anything but close, I still felt horrible. I hate it when people cry. It always makes me feel like it was my fault somehow.

I didn't know what to do. I wasn't good in situations like this, but I couldn't stand his crying anymore. He's usually a lively person who's never quiet. But now he just sits in his room and listens to music.

I put what I was doing on hold. I closed all of my books and got off my bed. I walked over to Zak's room and opened the door, not even bothering to knock.

When I finally had the door open, my heart literally shattered at the sight before me. The lights were turned off and he was rolled over on his side still sobbing. This is so unlike my brother.

I practically tiptoed over to his bed and sat on the edge. He flinched when he felt the bed move and he rolled over to look at me. He wiped at his eyes and sat up, pretending he was crying five seconds ago. I grabbed his blanket off the floor and wrapped it around him, making sure not to make eye contact. He looked at me like I was insane, but he didn't make a move to stop me.

I wanted to be nice about all of this but I really couldn't. "Zak, you need to stop this. It's pathetic. I get beat up all the time and you never see me crying." ... That's because I do it quietly... "What I have to put up with is so much worse than this."

He silently let more tears fall. Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh.

I sighed. "This is just a rumor, people will come around. Don't worry about it." I patted his knee gently and looked in his eyes. I know Zak would never be this nice to me if he ever saw me crying, but like I said... I don't like when people cry. I wanted him to feel better... And also, this one song on repeat was giving me a headache. "A lot of people don't like me either, but I still-"

I was cut off by a heart wrenching sob from Zak. He wrapped his arms around my neck and slammed his body against my chest.

He cried into my shoulder, and I let him.